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Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Finished ahead of schedule, the Millstream River Covered Bridge is re-opened to traffic. Crews replaced the cedar shingle roof on the structure which is 99 years old. There are 59 covered bridges left in the Province.

A man from Bloomfield was beaten up while walking through Sussex yesterday afternoon. Officers tell us the 19-year old was walking along Winter Street with someone else when a truck stopped and three men got out of the vehicle.

The teenager was kicked and then hit with a piece of wood and ironically he knows two of the three men. The man driving the truck is described as five foot five, short black hair and wasn't wearing a shirt. The teenager didn't have to go to the hospital.

Illegal dumping has become a problem for a business on Rothesay Avenue. The Re-store is set up to collect goods to be re-sold and raise cash for Habitat for Humanity but lately staff have been finding items that don't fit the criteria. It is also piling up near the property which means they could be fined for unsightly premises. Spokes-person Brenna Farren tells CHSJ News, it seems to be a seasonal thing:

Farren adds in the past month they have hauled away a truck worth of garbage.

Ottawa is responding to the Province's proposal on the Harbour Bridge.Saint John MP Rodney Weston tells CHSJ News that ACOA Minister Keith Ashfield wil be having a personal discussion with the Premier on this topic.Weston says both parties agree on the debt issue, the removal of tolls and cost-sharing on the refurbishment.

In previous discussions, today's date of June 30th was given as a possible deadline for the Feds to respond to the provincial offer. Weston adds he feels a final resolution between both levels of government can be reached.

Crews arrived at 161 Ludlow Street West this morning just after one to find a garbage container next to the home was in flames.

The fire did catch the vinyl siding and scorched the home but crews had the blaze under control in about an hour. City Police tell us it looks like the fire was intentionally set. Earlier in the night just after ten, crews arrived at the corners of Elgin and Victoria Streets in the North End to find a vehicle on fire. The heat from the flames melted the siding on a nearby garage and investigators are looking into how the fire started.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

RCMP want your help in locating Michael Paul Hutchings.The 33-year-old Moncton man is wanted in relation to a stabbing on Monday in Moncton. A charge of attempted murder was laid in a Moncton court against Hutchings today.

A 19-year-old Moncton man remains in hospital in stable condition.

Police reminds the public to call if they see the suspect and not to approach him. If you see him, call Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.

Grand Bay-Westfield RCMP are still investigating a serious assault in Public Landing that left a 31-year-old man hospitalized. On June 19th at about 9pm, several men got off a 26-foot white Baja speedboat at the Public Landing wharf. A 31-year-old man at the wharf was assaulted and suffered serious injuries. He remains at the Regional hospital and police have been unable to speak to him because of his injuries.

Several people were arrested, questioned and released and no charges have been laid.The RCMP are looking to talk with witnesses to this assault.Anyone with any information is asked to contact the Grand Bay-Westfield RCMP at 757-1020 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS..

Grand Bay Westfield RCMP are investigating a sexual assault against a 13-year-old girl on Friday night.It occurred on a trail between the tennis court on Inglewood Drive and North Street when the teen was approached by an older man who touched her inappropriately. She ran off and was not hurt.

The suspect is described as in his 60's, less than 5 foot 9 inches tall, overweight with a very long white beard and long white hair that was grey on top.He was wearing a camouflage ball hat and a bright orange t-shirt.

If you can identify the man in this incident, contact the Grand Bay Westfield RCMP at 757-1020 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800- 222- TIPS.

No doubt you have noticed workers busy on Long Wharf returning the site to it's original state after the Irving Oil office building plan was shelved.

Paula Small with the Saint John Port Authority tells CHSJ News, the restoration work got started two weeks ago with crews capping the pilings that were driven into the ground and putting back in place under-ground services like water and electricity.

Small says the work is expected to be finished the work before the 15th of September.

The generosity of Greater Saint John has come through once again as $2500 is raised for the Randy Jones and family foundation at McDonald's locations yesterday.The money will go to the pediatric unit and pediatric diabetes unit at the Regional Hospital.

The Quispamsis hockey star's annual celebrity tournament, Golf For Kids Sake, is underway today at the Riverside Golf and Country Club.

A fight to receive compensation they believe is rightfully theirs continues by Widows on the Warpath.

They have been left out of a $20,000 package offered by Ottawa to military and civilians who worked at -- or lived near Base Gagetown in the sixties. That is when Agent Orange was tested in the training area.

Saunders Wright will be at the City Market's Germain Street entrance this morning at nine looking for more signatures with 91 already on the petition. The widows have been shut out of the compensation package because their spouses passed away prior to the start up program in February of 06.

The province is growing! Numbers from Stats Can show a net increase of over 6000 people since January 2007.

The number surpasses the goal of increasing the province's population by 6,000 by the end of 2009 as set out by the state of the province address.The numbers are a quarterly estimate for January 1st to April 1st of this year and place our province's population at 751,300.

The province's population dropped by over 4000 people in the 13 quarters before January 2007.

Hampton RCMP tried to stop a motorcycle on Friday night on Highway one that was doing a "wheelie".

The driver sped up and away and roadblocks were set up further down the road and the bike was clocked going more than 160 kms per hour. The motorcycle drove past the road block, causing an accident and driving at more than 200 kms per hour before leaving the highway for Sussex.

No one was hurt in the accident.

The driver of the motorcycle is described as between 5'8" to 5'9" weighing 200 lbs with spiky dark hair, a pencil style beard wearing a green T-shirt, jeans and a dark helmet.

Contact RCMP at 832-5566 if you have any information on this incident.

The name of one of the accident victims in Saint John has been released after two weekend tragedies.26-year-old Ryan Ellis died on Friday after the motorcycle he was driving crashed into another vehicle on Manawagonish Road.

A 15-year-old girl was killed after a car she was in went off Hillcrest Road and down an embankment near the airport on Saturday night. City police tells CHSJ News, her name is not being released at the request of her family.

They say no good deed goes un-recognized and that certainly holds true in this story.

Local artist Norm Jackson will unveil and present his latest work, a portrait of former world speed skating champion Charles Gorman to Irving Oil officials next week. This after the company put forward the cash for a headstone at his un-marked grave. Jackson tells CHSJ News, it wasn't easy trying to capture the true essence of the man from photographs but is pleased with the final result. The dedication of Gorman's gravestone will happen on July.6th at the Old Cedar Hill Cemetery on Lancaster Avenue just after noon.

City Police are still piecing together what happened after two people were killed in traffic accidents over the weekend. A teenage girl was killed when a car she was in with several other young people went off the Hillcrest Road near the airport at 11:30pm Saturday night. The girl was pinned under the vehicle after it rolled down a steep enbankment and flipped onto it's roof. One man was killed on Friday night when the motorcycle he was driving crashed into a vehicle on the Manawagonish Road just before ten o'clock.

Discussions about building a second nuclear reactor at Point Lepreau have begun in, of all places, Florida. Provincial Energy Minister Jack Keir is in the Sunshine state talking about the possibility with the French nuclear engineering group, Areva. The Conservation Council's David Coon calls the whole thing insane. Energy Probe in Toronto doubts whether anything will get off the ground but Coon says it could if the province offers sufficient concessions and Areva is assured of access to the U.S. market.

One man is locked up and will visit with a judge later today after a robbery uptown last night.

City Police tell us it was just after 6:30pm when a man walked into the United Book Exchange on Charlotte Street. He told the clerk he had a weapon, wanted cash and took off out the door a short time later with a handful.

Quick work by officers on patrol how-ever found one person on King Street a short time later and he is now cooling his heels in a cell at City Hall. Nobody was hurt.

Premier Shawn Graham is making his rounds for the election season. Despite a recent slew of of visits to the port city for funding announcements Graham says he is still looking at each part of the Province.

Graham says there is a strong team of candidates in Saint John and his visits have helped grow the economy.

The Riverside Golf and Country Club will again provide the back-drop for this years Randy Jones Charity Golf Tournament tomorrow.

The L.A. Kngs defenceman last year with the help of many golfers raised $121,000 dollars for the neo-natal unit. All money this time around goes to the pediatric care and the pediatric diabetes unit at the Regional.Randy's brother Tim tells CHSJ News, Randy is looking forward to the day.

Some of the celebrities taking part in this years tournament include Team Canada gold medal winner Drew Dowdy, Wayne Simmons of the L.A. Kings, Aaron Asham with the Philadelphia Flyers and NHL referee Tim Peel.

If you aren't playing in the tourney, there is still a way to help the cause with food sales at all McDonalds between 4 and 8pm today to go toward this years charity.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

For the first time ever a Women's football team from Canada is competing for a World Championship which gets underway Sunday in Stockholm, Sweden. The team has 14 players from the Saint John area. That doesn't come as a surprise to one of them, Lisa Harlow who plays quarterback for the Saint John Storm of the Maritime Women's League. Harlow isn't surprised so many players come from the Maritimes because women's football has been established here for about 7 years.Harlow tells CHSJ News Canada has a good chance at picking up gold with the big competition coming from Team U-S-A. The tournment concludes July 3rd.

Irving Oil's decision to abandon tidal power research in the Bay of Fundy coming as a surprise to the Conservation Council and its Executive-Director David Coon. He says it points out the need for the province to have an energy strategy especially when it comes to renewable forms of energy. Coon claims New Brunswick is falling behind Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario in this regard.Irving Oil is basing its decision on uncertainty over the viability of the technology at the moment. Even Coon concedes the technology with tidal power lags behind other renewables such as solar and wind. Irving Oil was working with the Huntsman Marine Science Centre in St. Andrews.

Moosehead light lime is proving to be a huge success in the U.S. That's the reaction of Americans in six states to Moosehead Light Lime. Joel Levesque of Moosehead tells CHSJ News in just three months the brewery sold as much of the light lime that had been targeted for the entire year.Levesque concedes Moosehead officials are even even astounded by how it has taken off.Levesque says Moose Light Blackberry has been introduced in this province and Prince Edward Island and should be in all liquor stores within the next week.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Provincial Fisheries Minister Rick Doucet is just back from the Gulf of Mexico where he got a first hand look at that massive oil spill which is still gushing. He calls it the largest manmade disaster that has ever taken place and is shocking to see and smell.

Doucet says the intense heat makes the smell of the oil on the water very strong.In Doucet's words, they're trying to scoop up the oil with teaspoons.

Canadian Blood Services is refuting the comments of a local MLA on how the Task Force visit to speak to their national board went this week.Rothesay Conservative MLA Margaret Ann Blaney said the CBS told them to go home and not worry about the move of the Millidgeville blood distribution centre to Darmouth.

Amanda Cullen of Canadian Blood Services tells CHSJ News the task force was listened to.Cullen says Board Chair Leah Hollins thanked the Task Force members for their presentation and she asked them to work with CBS on testing the new system of delivery.

The vehicle involved a rollover accident that led to the death of a two-month old baby girl in Belleisle Creek is being inspected.

A 20-year-old woman was driving with her 2-month-old baby girl yesterday in Belleisle Creek when she lost control of her vehicle on Route 870.

The baby later died in hospital while the woman has since been released. Both the woman and her child were wearing seatbelts at the time of the accident. A mechanical inspection is being conducted on the vehicle.

Work continues on the Allied Health building on the campus of UNB Saint John.

The 43,000 square foot facility will house programs including practical nursing, medical laboratory technology, and personal service worker.

Supply and Servies Minister and Saint John Harbour MLA Ed Doherty tells CHSJ News they are excited about how construction is moving along.Doherty says a 10-million dollar contract for work on Phase 3 was recently awarded to Castle Rock Construction of Saint John.

Bill Best, NBCC interim president and chief executive officer, says the increased seat capacity will also ensure more students have access to a post-secondary education.

NBCC Saint John is graduating 593 students today from 29 different programs. Power Engineering Technology student Elan Cole is this year's valedictorian and she is also the recipient of the Governor General’s Award.

Health Minister Mary Schryer and NBCC's VP of Academics Terry Dempsey and Principal Diane Burt will also speak to the graduates.The ceremony is taking place this afternoon at Harbour Station.

The residents of the Kingston Pennisula can now grab a six-pack closer to home.The new agency liquor store at the Kingston General Merchants opened for business this morning.Owner Steve Gatien tells CHSJ News they are very excited to be up and running.Gatien says the store hours will not change with the addition of the liquor outlet, the store will still close at 10pm.

A two-month-old baby girl died from her injuries after a accident in Belleisle Creek.Sussex RCMP responding to the single vehicle rollover on Route 870 just before 2pm yesterday.A 20-year-old mother was driving with the baby when she failed to negotiate a turn and lost control of her vehicle. The vehicle left the road and rolled over. The mother was wearing a seat belt and the baby was fastened in a child restraint seat.

(Leader Of The People's Alliance Of New Brunswick Kris Austin) (Photo by Brian McLain)

A small turnout in Lorneville for the selection of the very first candidate for the newest political party in the province, the People's Alliance. He's Ed Hoyt who will be seeking support from voters in Fundy River Valley. He'll be going up against Provincial Energy Minister Jack Keir and retired heart surgeon, Dr. Jim Parrott who's running for the Conservatives. Hoyt says he's is offering to be more accessible to the people in the riding.Party Leader Kris Austin also made the party's first campaign promise and that is to roll back the increases to the pensions and severance pay M-L-A's voted themselves.Austin admits the party was born of discontent because people are fed up with both the Liberals and Conservatives. He maintains the time is right for a new party to make its mark.

A kitchen fire last night in an apartment at 149 Waterloo Street. District Chief Gerry Morris says fire crews were able to extinguish it quickly but it did cause considerable damage to the kitchen. The cause of the fire was a pot of grease left on the stove which ignited into flames. One person suffered slight burns to his hand trying to put the fire out. Most of the tenents were able to return to their apartments but not all. The Red Cross was called in to help them out.

It's the moment many students and their parents have been waiting 12 years for.It's graduation day for hundreds of students at Kennebecasis Valley, St. Malachy's and Harbourview High.Hampton High held its graduation ceremony last night.

Some politicians will get a look-see at how the new Allied Health building is coming along at the UNB Saint John campus. Health Minister Mary Schryer and Supply and Services Minister Ed Doherty will take part in the tour along with officials from the community college in Saint John and U-N-B Saint John. The tour is getting underway at 12:45 this afternoon.

The Provincial Government is calling for private developers and non profit organisations to come forward with proposals to build new housing in Crescent Valley. Social Development Minister Kelly Lamrock says he's looking for diversity with the initial request for a minimum of 60 units for seniors, 30 of which would be suubsidised and a minimum of 56 for families, 28 of which would be subsidised.Lamrock says the province has been talking to developers and he maintains there is interest in getting involved but the transformation of the neighbourhood into a community will take a number of years.

Saint John Portland M-L-A Trevor Holder is refuting the charge that Provincial Conservative Leader David Alward wants to move healthcare jobs out of the city. The accusation was made by Provincial Energy Minister Jack Keir after Alward told reporters in Dalhousie the Liberals gave 150 jobs at Facilicorp to Saint John when the northern part of the province needs more employment. Holder tells CHSJ News the Conservatives don't want to take jobs out of Saint John and he would never support that.Holder is accusing Keir of trying to deflect criticism of him over the failed NB Power deal by turning the tables. Alward will be making what is termed a major campaign announcement concerning health care tomorrow in Fredericton.

The federal government has opened another window of opportunity to apply for a 20-thousand dollar one time compensation payment -- and -- Carol Brown Parker of the Agent Orange Association tells CHSJ News there is an additional piece of information required -- a note explaining why you didn't apply the first time the compensation was offered.
She says she thinks those who didn't apply originally probably hadn't heard about the compensation program.
Parker says there is a short time frame to apply -- the application must be in no later than September 17th -- you can get more information here.

A giant hole at Forest Hills School will soon be a new playing field for students. The provincial and federal governments are putting almost $600,000 into the project which will allow for a new parking lot and field to be ready for the fall. Roly MacIntyre, MLA for Saint John East, says the kids are really excited for their new field.

MacIntyre says the old field was closed nearly nine years ago when the timbers supporting the field collapsed.

This doesn't happen all that often. Rothesay Regional Police telling CHSJ News they pulled a van over along the highway by the scales which isn't that unusual and then, without any warning, the 61 year old driver died instantly behind the wheel. Police are calling it a sudden death.

Also, City Police say the problem of drunnk driving continues unabated as they report three more drunk drivers were nabbed over a span of a couple of hours, two in the uptown and the other on Loch Lomand Road.

Drivers in Saint John are paying more for gas after the weekly setting. Self Serve regular has risen by more than 3 cents a litre to 99.6 cents and diesel is more than 2 cents a litre higher at $1.02.5. Propane is listed at $1.01.9 a litre.

Another politicial storm is brewing...this time over Health Care jobs awarded to the Port City through Facilicorp which is the shared health services agency.The Conservative Leader said in Dalhousie that the Liberals gave those jobs to Saint John over cities in the province's north. Provincial Energy Minister Jack Keir accuses David Alward of begrudging 150 Saint Johners their jobs.Keir wonders if Alward would say that in Saint John and thinks the Conserverative leader shouldn't be pitting the north and south of the province against each other over jobs.

80 people are participating in an 8-hour exercise today in preparation for an oil spill should it ever happen in Saint John.The 15th annual exercise is timely given the effort to clean up the mess after an oil rig exploded in April causing a BP well to leak oil on the Gulf Coast.The Atlantic Emergency Response Team or ALERT is conducting its exercise from Courtenay Bay to Lepreau. The spill exercise is one of many proactive measures ALERT organizes all year that are regulated by Transport Canada and in partnership with the Coast Guard.No actual product or materials will be placed in the water during any of the activities. In Courtenay Bay, several hundred feet of orange boom will be deployed and then recovered from the water, to simulate this emergency measure in the event of a 10,000 ton oil spill from a ship.

It's being called a major announcement from the Department of Social Development. A public housing announcement will be made today and it will impact Crescent Valley. Social Development Minister Kelly Lamrock and Mayor Ivan Court will be on hand for the annoucement this afternoon at the Somerset Community Centre. The provincial government has made a commitment to revitalise that neighbourhood with the goal being upgraded housing and one thousand new homes. Deputh City Manager Andrew Beckett says the neighbourhood has huge potential but it will take from 20 to 25 years for it to be fully transformed.

It's been confirmed that a a ``moderate earthquake'' has rocked residents of southern Ontario, Quebec and the northeastern United States.The U.S. Geological Survey says the temblor occurred just before 2:45 and was a magnitude 5.5 tremor centred about 60 kilometres north of Ottawa, in western Quebec.

A Saint Johner working in Mississauga, Ontario experienced it first hand.

Jenn MacDonald tells CHSJ News she was having lunch with her co-workers when the chairs and walls started shaking.She says the whole thing lasted 30 seconds.

MacDonald adds the timing was strange since she and her collegeaues were talking about the film "2012" which deals with the end of the world.

The President of the Saint John Real Estate Board says prices in the local housing market did increase slightly last month.Jason Stephen is reacting to the dismal numbers which show 170 homes sold in May down 26% from May of 09.

He tells CHSJ News that there is no reason to panic as they are month over month numbers, he says they pay close attention to year over year numbers which shows a small increase.Stephen tells us things are not the way they were in 2007 but, on the whole he calls the Saint John housing market stable and balanced.